The Girl and the Ood
by MamaNekoSama
Summary: On a desolated planet just outside of the Starburst Galaxy, a city is in ruins and plagued with an epidemic that had killed off most of the population. However, a small group of survivors remains: a young woman named Amelia, Sig the Ood, and a group of twenty orphaned children. All hope seems lost but Amelia holds tight to a promise from an old man in a big blue box.
1. Prologue

Doctor Who

The Girl and The Ood

**Prologue**

The wind made a crisp whistling sound as it blew through the battered buildings. The skyscrapers that once stood proudly against the rusted sky now seemed to shy away at the very passing by of the clouds. Up on a hill, just beyond the disastrous cityscape, a warehouse building stood battered, yet sturdy in the musty air. Sigma 002, an Ood, stood silently in the opening of the building, waiting. The wire stitched to his skin since birth waved idly in the wind, and the orb at the end rested tenderly in his hand like an egg; its plastic shell reflecting the barely flickering sunlight through the clouds, giving it a milky hue.

From inside the warehouse came a small girl around the age of five-years. Her face was smudged and her clothes dusty and worn from rummaging around the city for supplies and food. Her hair was a pale blonde and her eyes an aqua blue, the kind of blue one can see in the sky on the perfect summer's day on Earth; a color that reflected both longing and wisdom beyond her years. She stumbled her way up from the rubble to stand next to the solemn alien and gripped his hand that was resting at his side with her bony fingers.

"Sig, has she come back yet?" Her voice was soft and coarse, but sounded sweet like a lune's song.

"No, Ms. Sirina, not yet," Sig replied, the orb lighting up with each syllable he spoke. He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. "I'm sure she'll be back as soon as she is able. You know how Ms. Amelia is, she won't stop looking until she has made sure each one of you is taken care of."

Sirina nodded, let out a long sigh through her nose, and rested her forehead against Sig's wrist. "I hope she's okay."

Suddenly, there came a noise like a thunder-clap that roared and reverberated throughout the diminished buildings of the city; already broken windows shattered into fragments of fragments in their frames, and small buildings threatening to fall crumbled beneath themselves.

"What the hell?" Sig muttered, his voice sounding like someone speaking through a walkie-talkie. The two watched as brownish grey cloud billowed out from the distance and blanketed the ruins below.

Down in the dust below, a girl had just tumbled her way out of the collapsing remains of a building, coughing, and dusting the bits of rubble from her hair. She was about twenty years of age with short, pixie-like brown hair, with bangs that swooped over to the right, just under her eyebrows. A blue handkerchief covered her mouth, and she wore a long-sleeved leather jacket that cut off just below he rib cage, with a white shirt underneath. A gun holster was hooked around her hip and thigh and made a soft hissing noise as the brown leather rubbed against her black skinny jeans. She carried two large military backpacks, one on her back, and the other hanging on her chest.

"Well, _that _was a wee bit too close for comfort," she grumbled to her self.

Suddenly something clamped down on her ankle, pulled her down, and started dragging her back toward the billowing darkness. A crab-like claw gnawed at her feet, and an unearthly voice came screaming from the shadows of the rubble.

"You just don't know when to _quit_, do ya?" She huffed as she pulled out her gun. she took aim, and shot at the joints. With a bloodcurdling screech, the monstrous claw let go, and whipped itself back in the broken bricks and tumbling walls. With that the girl got up, and began to run towards home.

As she made her way through the deserted streets, she tried her best not to look at her surroundings. Since the epidemic hit two years ago, the bodies seemed to pile up just as much as the buildings began to make mountains upon themselves. Some were already bones; others were in the middle of decay. Those who couldn't make it out of the buildings when disaster struck roasted slowly in their graves and became mummified, almost in a picturesque way. The girl looked slightly off to the side out of curiosity, for who could ever be in the presence of Death itself and not be curious to see its workings in progress? She took in a sharp breath as she caught a glimpse of a mummified corpse staring back at her from an opening in a collapsed building. The sunlight hit the shriveled skin just right to where only half of the grotesque face shown in the shadows, laughing at her from across the way as if to say, "You're next, you're next, _you're next!_"

She let the air out slowly through her nose and continued on her way.

Not too much later, she looked up and smiled to see Sig and Sirina waiting loyally for her in the opening of the warehouse.

"I've hit the mother load this time!" She huffed as met her companions at the top.

"Are you alright, Ms. Amelia?" Sig asked, hovering behind her worriedly. "What was all the commotion down there about?"

"Agh, nothin' much, just my being reckless," she replied pulling off the backpacks and setting them on an old table. "Oi, kiddos! Come and get it!

Suddenly, there was a noise like stampede that filled the air, and out from shadows came children of various ages and races. Some came from holes in the walls, and some came from the rusted ceiling rafters, using old boxes as stairs. They all crowed around her, eager and desperate. They called out her name in pleading cries and started grabbing on to her jacket and pants with their scrawny fingers.

"Hold on, hold on!" Amelia said through a laugh. "Seriously, there's enough for everyone, I made double dog sure of it. Get in line so everyone gets their fair share."

As the kids lined up for the rations, Sig touched Amelia's shoulder with this free hand. They began to speak to each other telepathically:

"When you said you were 'being reckless', what _exactly _do you mean, Miss Amelia?" He said skeptically.

Amelia sighed. "I… ran into some unwanted company."

"Such as?"

"_The Sythrenene. Again_. Who else?"

"The _Sythrenene_…. Did they hurt you, Miss Amelia?" Sig's fingers tightened on her collarbone.

"I got a little roughed up, but I'm _fine_, Sig. Really. Hold on a second…" She stepped forward and clapped her hands loudly to get the children's attention. "Alrighty, kid-o's time for bed. I'll be in there in a minute to tuck you in!"

As the children scampered off with their spoils of the day, Amelia walked over to Sig and whispered in his ear. "I need to talk to you in private."

They walked to the corner of the giant room where a large hole had been poorly covered up with planks of rotted wood. Amelia lifted up one of the planks and let Sig walk in first.

The room was a decent size with a makeshift bed in one corner, and a large wooden crate for a desk in the other; an old office chair that had lost the back pad sat close by. The desk was covered with numerous computer monitors, one on top of the other, that had the whole city under surveillance. They made a soft beeping noise as they switched from different venues of the city. A tall black lamp stood next to the desk, its light shade missing and its paint slowly peeling off.

"What is it that you wanted to talk about, Miss Amelia?" Sig turned to see that Amelia was still standing by the door, leaning on the wall with her head down. "Miss Amelia?"

She looked up at him, a sheepish smile curving her lips, her brow creased in embarrassment. "Sig, you know how I said I roughed up a 'little bit'?" She made quotations with her fingers.

"Yes?" Sig took a concerned step forward.

"Well…. I got roughed up _a lot_!" She heaved in a breath, and started to slide to the ground. "Please! Please help me to the bed! Hurry!"

Sig pinned the orb to his shirt and rushed to her side, slipping his arm around her waist and hooking her arm around his neck to support her. She let out an exasperated cry of pain as she flopped on to the bed with a thud.

"M-Miss Amelia, what _happened_?" Sig asked as he lifted her head and settled a pillow beneath it.

"I-I was downtown," Amelia replied, closing her eyes to keep her mind off of the pain. "I found an old convenience store that had more than enough food for us all. But as I was filling the bags, a _Sythrenene _came out of nowhere." Amelia took in a sharp breath as a shot of pain zapped through her body like a Taser shock. She grabbed Sig's sleeve and let out a soft cry. "I knocked down a couple of the pillars in the building to block its escape, and I got out before the building collapsed. But the tricky little monster managed to slip through and grab my leg. It got it pretty good, too. Oh, God…"

Suddenly she felt a slight tingling down in her toes, and her leg began to throb in massive pulses. She screamed in agony, her back arching from the shock.

"Miss Amelia!" Sig cried. Amelia's knuckles turned white as he clamped on to his sleeve.

"I'll…I'll have to regenerate it, Sig." She looked up to him, her eyes wide with fear. She let go of his sleeve and clasped on to his hand.

"You don't have to… _fully _regenerate, do you? Please tell me you don't, Miss Amelia." Sig squeezed her hand tightly.

"O-Only one way to find out…" Amelia gasped. She closed he eyes and started to concentrate…

She tried to imagine the pain that traversed through body was flowing down to her leg, centralizing the pain to the wounds and keeping it neutralized. She took in a couple of deep breaths then held it in. Sig watched as she laid perfectly still, her fingers clenched tightly around his gloved hand as though she was trying to draw strength from his grasp. Suddenly, with a gasp Amelia's eyes shot open, brown and glistening like two gold coins. A light shone from her mouth as though her soul was trying to rip out from the very center or her being. She swallowed it down with a hard gulp and winced; a fraction of a second later the same light began to gleam from her wounds.

"Agh, there it goes… there is goes, Sig…I did it. I did it," Amelia gasped. She lay back on to the pillow looked up to the cracked ceiling. She gave Sig's hand a squeeze before she spoke. "I have to honest with you, Siggy…. I don't know how much longer we can survive. I don't know how much longer we can wait. He's just taking _so long_."

Sig was quiet. "Maybe," he began softly. "Maybe he didn't make it, Miss Amelia. Maybe something…"

"No, he couldn't have," she interrupted, shaking her head in denial. "He's too damn stubborn. And… and he promised. He promised he's come back. He _has_ to."

Just outside the doorway a boy about twelve years old stood and listened in on the conversation. His head was shaved on one side, and he allowed his hair on the other side to grow normally. He wore a white Victorian-like shirt with black leather pants and boots. It was obvious that he cared about his looks, and tried to keep himself as tidy as possible provided the dusty domain. As he listened to the conversation he shook his head skeptically. "Some savior this man turned out to be," he muttered to himself. " 'He's going to save us all,' she says. 'He never abandons his loved ones,' she says."

He walked to the opening of the warehouse and looked up. The clouds had parted ever so slightly to let the stars above peek down at the city below. It was a rare sight to see anything of the sky except dust, but the boy saw them as nothing special, nothing to gawk about.

" 'The Oncoming Storm' my foot! Some mad man in a big blue box you are!"


	2. Chapter 1

The Girl and the Ood

Ch.1

~Her Old Man~

The T.A.R.D.I.S. was drifting lazily through space, making her usual beeps and whirs. The Doctor was bouncing from panel to panel on the main frame, pushing buttons and flinging levers. River was typing away at the computer, chuckling under her breath at her husband's flamboyancy.

"The Bermuda Triangle! _The_ Bermuda Triangle!" He exclaimed out of childlike excitement. "_We_ went to the Bermuda Triangle and _lived!_ Not many people can say that, River. Not many people at all!" He stopped in front of her and did and extravagant spin, his hair lightly tossing on his temples, eyes glistening and a huge smile lighting his face.

"I know I was there." River laughed as she finished up a sentence and hit "enter".

"And Amelia Earheart," the Doctor sighed, falling back onto his bench on the deck. "What a doll!"

River stopped typing and gave him a menacing look through her lashes. "Ah, ah, ah, watch it, Raggedy Man; you just might make me jealous." She turned her head ever so slightly to make her gold curls fall over eyes.

"Aww, is little Melody Pond _jealous?_" The Doctor teased, swaggering over to her and backing her up against a panel.

"Maybe I _am_."

Just as the Doctor was going to lean in for kiss, the T.A.R.D.I.S. made a hard, screeching, raspy noise as if it let out a gasp. The ship began to toss and jerk about, sending the Doctor and River flying in separate directions.

"Doctor, what's going on?" River called out above the noise.

"I don't know!" The Doctor clambered up to the computer, Gallifreyan scrambling across the screen; his eyes widened.

"Doctor, what is it?" River asked managing to make her way next to him.

"The T.A.R.D.I.S. is directing herself! I'm not the one driving it! No wait…." He pushed some buttons and then looked closer to the screen. "It's being _pulled_!"  
" 'Pulled'? What do you mean 'pulled'?"

"I don't know! It's like it's being magnetized; more like it's being drawn or called to… wherever the hell we're going!" The Doctor pressed a few more buttons, but the ship continued its barreling course. "There's nothing I can do," he said, looking to River. "We're just going to have to trust the old girl." He gave River a nervous, yet excited smile of encouragement. "_Geronimo!"_

Amelia was sitting on her bed, polishing her gun and checking the bullets, humming to herself as she worked. She peeked through the wooden boards on her door every so often to watch the kids play tag in the main room of the warehouse. Sig was at the computer writing up an analysis on the planet, switching the locations on the screens as he went along. Suddenly, a loud high-pitched beeping sounded from one of the computers.

"Miss Amelia, something has entered the planet's atmosphere," Sig said switching the screen to a sonar grid. He pointed to a small blinking light moving toward the center of the screen. "From the looks of it, it seems that they're trying to make an emergency landing."

"Say _what_?" Amelia rushed over to Sig's side, leaning on the desk. "Where are they landing?"

"Sector 10, the City Square."

"Switch the screen back to the security cam, and let's see who it is." Amelia let out a frustrated sigh and began pacing back and forth. "Who the _hell_ would make an emergency landing _here_? I mean, didn't they see the smog surrounding the… planet?" She was interrupted by a noise coming from the screen. Her heart stopped. She turned around slowly and looked at the computer monitor. She knew that noise. Every fiber of her being knew that noise and every nerve cried out in exultation.

A box-like shape began to appear in the middle of the screen, making an eerie noise like metal grinding together as it faded in out of existence. She ran to the computer, almost knocking Sig out of his chair. "Oh my God," she gasped.

"Miss Amelia? What is it?" Sig sat himself up and stared at his friend watching the screen intently. He got up and looked back and forth between the screen and the look on Amelia's face. "Miss Amelia?" He waved his hand in front of her face, but her eyes never faltered away from the picture. When his efforts to gain her attention proved in vain, he began to watch the phantom figure as well.

With every rasping heave the figure gained more and more detail, and Amelia's heart beat faster and faster. Finally, with one last gasp, the T.A.R.D.I.S landed in the square, sifting the dust through the air in gentle circlets.

Amelia took in a quivering breath, "Oh my God." He began to laugh uncontrollably. "_Oh my God!"_

"Miss Amelia, for Heaven's sake,_ what's going on_?" Sig grabbed Amelia's shoulders and made her face him.

"He's here." She said quietly, like she was saying it to make herself believe.

"What?"

"He's here!" She grabbed Sig's shirt and started jumping up and down excitedly.

"Who?" At this point Sig was getting flustered.

"It's _him_, Sig! The man I told you about!" Amelia began walking about the room, picking up a duffle bag, and stuffing clothes and random knick-knacks into it.

"You mean the Doctor?"

"Yes!"

"My people have told me about the Doctor," Sig said as he watched Amelia pack her things. "How he and his companion, Donna Noble, saved them from slavery years ago."

Amelia walked over to the desk and uncovered a hidden compartment underneath the keyboard. She pulled out a rectangular box and shook out what looked to be a pen with a small green bulb at the top surrounded by metal claws.

"Miss Amelia," Sig continued as Amelia began to examine the item. "I know you traveled with him, and that he had to leave you here because of some type of mission; that he promised to come back for you. But who exactly _is _this man; what _is_ he to you?"

Amelia smiled, pressing a button on the side to make the claws flick open and the bulb light up.

It made a strange, screeching noise as she spoke, "A man that I admire more than anyone in the world. He's fought monsters, saved civilizations, _and _the universe _more_ than once without ever being thanked. I've seen him do it, Sig. He's fearfully amazing and just…. just so _wonderful_. And I'm proud to say…" She went back to the screen and stared at the T.A.R.D.I.S lovingly. "That he's my father."

She noticed something in the distance behind the T.A.R.D.I.S. A long, shadowy figure was lurking around in the dust behind the ship; its back peeking from the shadows occasionally like a shark.

"Oh, my _God_!" She stuffed the pen into a pocket on the inside of her vest, grabbed her gun and ran out of the room, knocking a couple of the wooden planks off their nails. "There's something I have to go do in the square," she called to the kids as she ran past them. "You stay here, _and don't leave the warehouse_, do I make myself clear? Good? Okay!" Without letting them say a word, she took off down the hill.

The children watched in confusion as she skidded down the slope, nearly tripping over a rock on her way down.

"His daughter, hm?" Sig thought. "So that's where she got all of her flamboyancy."

Back in the T.A.R.D.I.S River and the Doctor were recovering from the landing. River managed to keep herself on the main deck and land the T.A.R.D.I.S safely.

"I don't know what the hell that was, but whatever happened, it's over now," River said between a breath. "Are you okay, Doctor? Doctor?" She looked around the room and chuckled when she found the Doctor lying upside down by the entrance, his legs pressed against the door and hanging over him. River walked over and leaned against the rails.

"D'aww did Raggedy Man get tossed about and get an owie?" She laughed brushing his bangs from his eyes.

"Oh, hush," the Doctor pouted. "You didn't get thrown around the room by your own T.A.R.D.I.S."

"That's because I clever enough to hold onto the _safety rails_."

"Hey, it's _my _job being the clever one!"

"The T.A.R.D.I.S didn't think so. Now be a good boy, do your thing, and explore a little bit while mummy checks out the time machine." With that River pushed open the doors and let the Doctor summersault out into the dust.

The Doctor got up, dusted himself off, and straightened his bowtie. "Cheeky woman…"

Amelia was running as fast as she could, her legs pumping and throbbing with her momentum. She was finally able to see the square, and the T.A.R.D.I.S was nested in the middle of it. Her two hearts nearly jumped out of her chest when she saw a figure wandering around the rubble. It was _him_, the Doctor. _Her _Doctor. He was walking about the shattered buildings, and waving his sonic screwdriver about, analyzing the surroundings. She couldn't help but smile when she saw him trip over a rock and make a face at it. Her smile faded when she saw a large crab-like creature emerging from the rubble, claws open, teeth bared, and hovering behind the Doctor, ready to pounce.

"Get down!" she screamed.

The Doctor looked up to see Amelia drawing her gun and running towards him.

"Get down! Get down! _Get down!_" Amelia ran up a large boulder and jumped, firing at the creature just before it's claws could clamp down on the Doctor's waist. The creature writhed backward with a screech, tossing its head about to gain composure. The Doctor watched in shock as Amelia stood in front of him with the gun pointed at the creature.

The creature made a growling noise, its eyes black with fury, and its long body swerving back and forth like a snake ready to attack. It had the body of a centipede, with thousands of legs rippling in waves down it's length. It reared back onto the first fifty of its legs and roared, tossing it's head back in rage. It lunged forward snapping its jaws.

"Oi!" Amelia shouted, shooting at the ground close to its feet, making it jump backward. "Get out of here! Go on, _get!_" She kept shooting until it screamed angrily in defeat and scurried away back into the cloud of dust.

"Was that a _Sythrenene_?" the Doctor couldn't help but smile out of pure amazement. "I haven't seen one of those in _years_; and quite glad of it, too. Quite nasty, those things are. All creepy and…. crabby." He made little claws with his hands.

The Amelia put her gun away and turned to him, smiling. "You haven't been here five minutes, and you're already getting into trouble."

The Doctor shrugged nonchalantly. "That's a new record for me, actually. Ten minutes was the last go 'round."

"God, I've missed you!" Amelia laughed, throwing herself onto the Doctor, and wrapping her arms tightly around his neck.

" 'Missed me'? What do you mean?" The Doctor failed his hands about, not sure if he should hug her back, or shove her off.

Amelia let out an insulted gasp and looked up at him. "What do you mean 'what do I mean'? I've missed you!"

"I meant what I said when I said, 'what did I mean'. Who _are_ you?"

"Stop being daft, you old fart!" She punched him roughly on the shoulder.

"Ow!" he whined, rubbing his shoulder. "And 'old fart'? Don't be rude! I mean, I _am_ old, but you don't need to go and point it out. Now, _who are you_?"

Amelia stepped back and put her hands on her hips. This charade was getting old.

"You dump me off here for _six years_ to go gallivant on an 'important mission' because it's 'too dangerous' to go with you, and you think it's _funny _to pretend to not know who I am? Seriously, you think you're all _clever_ with your fun and games, but it's not funny now!" She got up close to his face and poked him hard in the chest.

"I _am_ clever," the Doctor retorted. "And this isn't fun and games. I don't know what you're talking about and I haven't seen you before in my life! Now, stop being violent, 'cause I have a lady with a gun in my ship, and I'm pretty darn sure she won't have any trouble beating you up!"

Amelia stared long and hard at the Doctor. His eyes were stern, and his face creased with irritation and confusion. And with every second that passed without the slightest inkling of mischief on his face, the truth dawned her. He meant it. He _really _meant it.

"You… _really_ don't know who I am?" She said quietly, taking a step forward.

The Doctor took a wary step backward. "That's right."

She hearts began to ache. She couldn't believe it. She _wouldn't_ believe it. She swiftly grabbed onto the collar of his tweed jacket. "Look at me! This face! You _really _don't know _who I am_?"

"_No! _I mean, _yes! _I mean, _yes_, as in _no, I don't know you!"_

Amelia stared at him in disbelief. She felt like her hearts were being torn apart every time they pulsed. A knot began to form in her throat, and she couldn't seem to swallow it down.

"But… you _have_ to know. I've waited so long…. " She could feel tears tingling at the edge of her eyes. She leaned her head against his chest, trying to recompose herself.

The Doctor stood still. He could feel her trembling, and the grip on his jacket grow tighter. "I'm sorry," he said softly, slowly laying his hands on her back. "I'm… so, so sorry."

"But, how could you not know who I am?" She choked. "How could you not know, unless…?" Suddenly it hit her. It hit her like discovering the unfathomable truth of how large the universe truly is. "Unless…." Her voice got quieter.

"Doctor," a voice called from the T.A.R.D.I.S.

The Doctor and Amelia turned to see River walk out of the T.A.R.D.I.S. She stopped in her tracks when she saw Amelia and the Doctor in their awkward embrace. "Who's _that_?" She said crossly as she folded her arms across her chest.

Amelia held her breath. She felt like she was seeing a ghost. It was _her_.

"Mum…" She said softly so the Doctor couldn't hear.

An overwhelming joy filled her chest. She hadn't seen her mother since she was five years old when she went to the library and never came back. She wanted so desperately to run to her, to embrace her, like any child would upon seeing their mother; then suddenly she remembered,"…If _she's_ here, then…. I haven't happened, yet. Oh…_Oh_…. Oh, dear…."

Amelia looked up at the Doctor, eyes wide and cheeks flushed with embarrassment. She swiftly let go of his collar and took a couple of small steps backward. "Right, then…"

As much as it hurt to admit it to herself, she had to pretend not to know them. She had to hide those memories of them she had held on to all those years to keep her going, because if she revealed them she knew the consequences.

She turned to River, cleared her throat, and held out her hand. "I'm Amelia, it's a pleasure to meet you."

River cocked an eyebrow and just looked at Amelia's hand .She glared at the Doctor over the girl's shoulder. "_Amelia_, huh? What is it with you and Amelia's today, Doctor? Hmm?"

"Oh, hush, River," the Doctor blushed, straightening his jacket.

"And _how _do you know my _husband_?" River questioned, lips pursed and eyes scrutinizing.

"I… I can't say." Amelia replied, looking down and twiddling her fingers.

"Oh? And why's that? Because you're something _more_ to him?"

"What? _No_. Ew, gross, no!"

The Doctor looked offended. " 'Ew, gross, no'?"

"Look," Amelia began again. "I thought he… was someone I knew. I made a mistake, and said something I shouldn't have."

Off in the distance, a _Sythrenene's _screech could be heard reverberating off the city walls.

"Let's go," Amelia said walking up the hill again. "It's safer at my place."

Amelia led the way up the hill with the Doctor and River following at a distance behind her, talking back and forth to each other in hissed whispers.

"Seriously, River, that's all I know," the Doctor explained. "She said that she's been waiting for me, but that's all."

"Oh, it looks like she's been waiting for you, all right." River fumed. She made sure she kept a few paces ahead of the Doctor, just in case if she lost her temper and didn't punch him.

"River, honestly, how many times do I have to tell you that _I don't know her? _How could I possibly have a relationship with someone I haven't met yet?"

River stopped, glared at him, and pointed to her face, doing an overexagerated smile.

"Oh, right… well, I couldn't have with anyone else."

"Queen Elizabeth?"

"Oh… just shut up and listen," He grabbed River's wrist and made her look at him. "River, as much as this doesn't make sense, I think we can trust her. I can't explain it all that well, but… I feel like she's important. It's a gut feeling, really. It feels like I really do know her; that I _should_, somehow…. I just don't know how, yet."

River sighed. "I've got that feeling, too," she admitted. "But I swear to God if she's going to be hitting on you the whole time, I can't guarantee there won't be casualties!"

The Doctor chuckled and kissed her on the cheek. "You're the only brown-eyed beauty I need, Melody Pond."

"You're so cheesy," River laughed.

"You know you like it."


	3. Chapter 2

The Girl and the Ood

Ch.2

~A Song of Survival~

The light was fading fast outside of the ware house, the muggy hair drifting in through the open doorway. The children sat together in a large circle in the middle of the warehouse talking, and passing around a bag of chips, each taking a handful.

"What do you think Amelia ran off to do in the square?" One boy asked.

"I don't know," another replied. "But she took her gun with her."

"She always has her gun, stupid," a girl said with her mouth full of chips.

"Shut up."

"You talk with Amelia a lot, Sirina. What do you think it was?" the girl asked as she stuffed a large chip into her mouth.

"I dunno," Sirina replied as she reached into the bag. Her arm was so small that it disappeared into the bag entirely and had to struggle to get the chips at the bottom. "She had that look in her eye like when she knows something's happening."

"Have you noticed how she seems to know something's wrong off the cuff?" A boy asked. "It's almost like she's psychic!"

"I've noticed that, too," Sirina admitted. "One time I had a super scary nightmare. But right in the middle of it, I all of a sudden felt calm. Poof! Like magic! When I woke up, Amelia was holding my hand."

"That's not being psychic, that's _you _being a big baby, screamin' in your sleep, and Amelia making you feel better," a boy retorted. He was the same boy who spied on Amelia and Sig before.

"Oh, shut up, Rión!" Sirina huffed. "You're just jealous that Amelia doesn't hold _your _hand."

Rión rolled his eyes and continued eating his share of chips.

Just then Amelia came gasping in through the opening of the warehouse.

"Oh, honey, I'm home!"

The children ran up to her, tugging on her legs and pulling on her arms, spit firing questions as she tried getting to the middle of the room.

"Amelia, where did you go?"

"Did something happen in the square?"

"Did the_ Sythrenene_ get you?"

"What was all the ruckus about?"

"Guys, does it look like I have a million mouths? Hold on a second," Amelia puffed. She stopped like she forgot something and turned back to the entrance. "Are you two, alright?"

The Doctor came clambering into the warehouse, out of breath, and wobbly-legged. "Th-that… that's one _hell _of a climb," the Doctor wheezed, falling to the floor. "How…. _How _do you do that _every single day_?"

"Oh, stop being a wuss, Doctor," River sighed as she walked in with grace, but also out of breath.

The children turned and looked at the strange new comers. They all looked at each other, teeth peeking behind excited grins. With shouts of joy, they ran to the Doctor and River, nearly knocking them down with hugs. They fiddled with the Doctor's bow tie and peeked into his jacket; they ruffled through River's hair and poked at her gun holster.

"Look, they're clothes are so clean! They smell like the detergent mom used before!" A girl chirped, sniffing Rivers vest.

"Her hair is so big and curly!" Another said tossing River's curls in her hands.

"And look at this one's chin," a boy said through a giggle, squishing the Doctor's cheeks in his hands. "Blimey!"

"Hey, now, I think my chin brings out my character, don't you think?" The Doctor chuckled as he poked the boy in the stomach.

"What's with the bow tie?" Sirina asked, sitting in the Doctor's lap. She turned the bow tie this way and that in her fingers. "I think my _grandpa_ wore one of these."

"'Cause bow ties are cool, that's why." The Doctor replied straightening it backup, and giving Sirina a cocky grin.

Amelia watched and laughed, smiling solely because the kids were smiling. She hadn't seen pure joy from them like that within the two years she had been taking care of them. The Doctor and River were just what they needed: new faces, new hope. Sig ducked out of Amelia's room and stood next to her.

"So that's that Doctor, hmm?" He asked. His eyes curved into a smile as he watched the children's banter with the Doctor and River.

"Yeah, that's him," she said quietly.

"And who's that woman?"

"My mother."

"You're mother! I can see the resemblance."

"Yeah."

Sig heard Amelia let out a soft sigh. "What's the matter, Miss Amelia?"

"Sig… those two are my parents, but…. They have no idea who I am."

"What do you mean?"

Amelia watched the children chatting away with her mother and father, hugging them, giving them kisses. She saw the looks on the Doctor and Rivers faces as they teased and laughed; a parental glow just seemed to radiate from their very being. She couldn't help but feel jealous.

"It turns out… that that's my father from the _past_… meaning that I haven't happened for him yet. She's my mother from _his_ future, but I'm from _her_ past."

Sig his head cocked to the side in confusion.

"Our little family is complicated," Amelia said rolling her eyes. "Anyway She's an archeologist. She went on an excavation in an old library when I was five, but she never came back. Dad told me there was something bad in there, and that she saved him and other members of her team. I've grown up too much for her recognize me. Either way, no matter how we flip the scenario, I'm messing with the time stream. I can't let them know who I am or a paradox will occur. But… there _has_ to be a way for them to know…. Just some way…"

"So who are you two anyway?" A little boy sitting in River's lap asked.

Amelia flinched. "Oh, but not that way…"

"I'm River Song," River replied. "And this is the Doctor."

The children gasped.

"The Doctor? As in _the _Doctor?" Sirina asked, her blue eyes crystalline and hopeful.

"If I'm the Doctor you're thinking of, then yes. Though, I'm the only 'the Doctor' that I know of," the Doctor said. He wasn't quite sure if he was comfortable with all the children's attention on him.

"Then you can help us! Get us out of here, please!"

The children flocked to him, getting as close as they could to the man with the potential to be their savior.

"But, I…."

Rión made his was through the crowd of children to stand in front of the Doctor, eyes incredulous and hands on his hips. "So you're the Doctor."

"Yes?" The Doctor said as he was trying to get a few children off of his lap.

"So you're the so called 'On coming storm'? The 'Mad Man in the Big Blue Box'?"

"Ye-s?"

"So you're Amelia's…?"

Just then Amelia stumbled through of the cluster of kids and covered Rión's mouth before he could say any more.

"Friend," she finished for him. "He's my new friend. He came out of nowhere, and I saved him from the _Sythrenene_."

Rión pulled her hand off his mouth. "But you said that he was…"

She covered his mouth again. "Someone I've _heard_ of, and _now he's my_ _friend_." Her voice was low and right by his ear. She gave him a side ways glance, a warning. He nodded, and she slowly uncovered his mouth. The Doctor and River looked at each other, then back at the girl smiling nervously at them. River let out a small gasp when she noticed Sig standing in the back of the crowd. She had never seen an Ood before.

"Oh, how rude of me!" Amelia said getting up and wrapping an arm around Sig's shoulder. "This is Sigma 002, affectionately known as Sig."

"It is both a pleasure and an honor to meet the savior of my people," Sig said bowing to the Doctor.

"Oh, no bowing," the Doctor moaned. "It's just the same as saluting, but with your chest."

Amelia was getting nervous. That was too close. _Way _to close. She didn't think about how the children would react upon hearing the Doctor's name; they just knew that he was the man that could help them, that could save them.

"Right, then," Amelia said, ushering the children out of the way to let the Doctor stand. "We have some business to attend to. Let's go to my room. Children, you go get ready for dinner. We'll be out in a bit."

Amelia led the way to her room. Sig held up the wooden boards to let the Doctor, River and Amelia through.

"This is…quaint." The Doctor mumbled wiping off a spider web that hand landed on his shoulder.

"Doctor." River elbowed him in the ribs.

"Yeah, I know it's not much. It used to be a storage room for inventory," Amelia explained. "Here have a seat." She motioned the bed.

"So what planet is this?" River asked as she sat on the bed. When she sat down a cloud of dust puffed from the mattress. "Our ship wouldn't register what the name was."

"This is Callashan, the 'Nirvana of the Starburst Galaxy'," Amelia said with a sarcastic chuckle, flailing her hands like a magician. "Not so much any more though… obviously."

"What happened here?" The Doctor took a seat beside River on the bed, wafting another cloud away.

"It's hard to say," Amelia began. "It was two years ago. Callashan was a thriving planet; bustling cities all over the continents. We're right on the edge of the galaxy, with a relatively large asteroid belt, so we thought we were safe. However, we had heard tale that there were planets in other galaxies being killed off one by one. We had a few refugees come to the planet throughout the years. When we asked what had happened they just said that they 'saw a light in the sky', and just like that, everything was gone. The odd thing is, records show that those same refugees were admitted to the hospital not even a week later, and died of an unknown sickness. They all had the same symptoms: high fever, boils all over the body... coughing up blood. And what's even more strange, the root of the sickness couldn't be traced. It didn't spread, it just stuck with that particular group of people. After that there was no trace of the sickness again. A couple of years went by, and we didn't hear of any other planets being destroyed. We thought that things had finally settled down. Life went back to the way it was, but then one day everything changed.

"It was just a regular day when all of a sudden, there was this noise, this… horrible, horrible noise. I remember being out in the square running errands when I saw something plummeting through the clouds, like a bullet of light. Suddenly everything went white. When I woke up, the city was devastated. People were running around trying to find loved ones, making frantic phone calls, trying to get people out of the rubble. That's when I found Sirina. Her mother had died protecting her from a collapsing building. We wandered around the city, and found other orphans. I managed to get a small clinic started with volunteers looking for food and supplies. However, after a few days people started falling ill and dying just like the fugtives. Just like that. Dropping like flies. The military did more investigations at Ground Zero only to find that the object had been completely destroyed in the crash. They did find one thing, though. It turns out that whatever that thing was, it was carrying an airborne alien virus. They tried doing more research, but it just seemed the more they worked on it the more people started dying. The _Sythrenene _showed up not long after that, feeding off the corpses. They're known as the 'Scavengers of the Galaxy', because they're drawn to dead and dying planets, eating what's left and the survivors if they can. The whole planet is dead now except for me, Sig, and the kids... we're all that's left."

River and the Doctor listened to the story in sheer horror. River shook her head and covered her mouth, trying not to choke up. The Doctor looked straight on, brow furrowed as details unfolded.

"How awful," River whispered. "How awful."

"And you've been here all this time? Taking care of the children all by yourself?" The Doctor asked. He rested his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands.

Sig stepped up and touched Amelia's shoulder. "No, sir. I've been assisting Miss Amelia in whatever she needs me to do."

"And what about you, Sig? How did you get here?" River asked, wiping away a tear that had escaped down her cheek.

"I was kidnapped from my mother planet sold into slavery. I managed to escape, but crash-landed here. That's when I met Miss Amelia. She's been very kind to me."

The Doctor cocked his eyebrow. "Are you two….?" He drew a heart in in the air with his fingers.

Amelia blushed. Sig swiftly took his hand off Amelia's shoulder and held his hands behind his back.

"Oh, no, no, no! Sig's just a friend, a very dear friend," Amelia stuttered.

"No, sir. Not at all, sir," Sig agreed, looking about the room nervously.

The four sat in awkward silence for a moment, when suddenly there was a loud clattering sound that echoed in the small room and made everyone jump. One of the wooden planks from the door way fell off its nail.

"Oops," A voice said.

Everyone turned to see some of the children peeking in on the conversation.

"May we help you?" Amelia said crossly, folding her arms across her chest.

"Can it be supper time, yet, Miss Amelia? We ate those chips, but our tummies are still rumbly."

"Oh, fine," Amelia chuckled. "If you'll excuse us, Doctor, Mrs. River."

"We'll help," River said standing up. She pulled the Doctor up with her by his elbow.

"If you like, but these kid-o's can me ravenous."

Amelia made her way out of her room, the children following along and talking with her. She walked to the room diagonal to hers in the main room of the warehouse where there was a pair of large double doors with a keypad on the side. She pressed in the code and Sig heaved the doors open. A cold gust of air and fog poured out revealing a gigantic room filled with boxes and bags. Amelia walked in with a shiver, picked up a large bag that read:

_Property of the United Kingdom:_

_Military Rations_

She handed it to Sig who set on a table and slit it open with a pocketknife. The bag contained smaller, silver bags and he began to pass them out to the children.

"Don't forget to press the button on the tip of the bag to heat it up, children," Sig instructed.

River helped Amelia get out the bags, and the Doctor helped Sig pass out the rations to the children.

"So, how exactly did you gain access to the code for a _military _rations unit?" River asked, giving Amelia a side ways glance as she passed a bag to Sig. She still wasn't sure of Amelia's intentions towards the Doctor and herself. It irritated her that she knew the Doctor, but _he_ didn't know her. She was even _more _irritated at the fact that Amelia seemed to know the Doctor so _intimately_, but not in a way that she had seen before. She wanted to test her.

Amelia automatically caught the tone in River's voice and obliged her. "When I started the clinic, I became friends with the military officer in charge. Being the one who started the clinic, he allowed me access to the rations unit."

" 'Became friends' with him, eh?"

"Not in _that_ way."

"Well, you know how military men are with a girl like you."

Amelia closed the doors and faced her mother, folding her arms slowly over her chest. She didn't realize her mother could be so fiercely jealous.

"And what exactly do you _mean_ by 'a girl like me'?" Amelia said pursing her lips.

Sig and the Doctor caught wind of the conversation and backed away slightly.

"Well," River continued. "If you were desperate to get food for yourself, wouldn't you do just about anything?"

"The food isn't just for me, it's for the children!"

"Ah, so you _did _do some _persuading_?"

"I didn't say that!"

"Are you willing to persuade the Doctor in order to get off this Godforsaken planet?"

"Listen here, you!" Amelia said exasperatedly, pointing a finger up in River's face.

"Oh, did I hit a nerve, you little urchin?" River smiled confidently, and creased her eyes into a mock-sympathetic look.

They rushed toward each other, both reaching for their guns only to be intervened by Sig and the Doctor.

"Now, Miss Amelia, calm down," Sig said softly, struggling to keep a hold on Amelia's shoulders. He lowered his voice and said quietly, "I thought she was your _mother_?"

"She _is_," Amelia hissed. "But did you _hear _was she _said_?" Amelia loved the woman to death, but she had never felt like slapping someone more in her life!

"River, darling," the Doctor whispered, putting his hand on River's gun to keep it down. "I thought we decided to trust her?"

"We did," River replied, slowly letting the Doctor put the gun back in its holster.

"Then what the hell was that?"

"There's something about the way she looks at you."

"Oh, River…"

"_What_?"

"You get jealous way to easily."

"I have the most powerful man in the world for my husband, why shouldn't I get jealous?"

"Because of situations like this. Now..." The Doctor started scooting River forward, and motioned to Sig to do the same to Amelia so the two met face to face. "I want you two to say sorry and make nice."

River and Amelia looked around the room avoiding eye contact with each other. Amelia looked up and took in a long gulp of hair through her nose. She stepped forward and lifted up her hand sharply.

"Let's see who the bigger woman is, and make a truce, yeah?" She said, wiggling her fingers to coax River into taking her hand.

River curled her lips in, sighed and then took the girl's hand, squeezing it tightly and giving it a hard jerk as a shake.

"There, now," The Doctor smiled. "All better! Right?"

"Well..." River sighed.

"River…"

Amelia rolled her eyes at her mother's hard-headedness and looked out at the children finishing up their dinner. She counted them to make sure everyone was there. She squinted, and counted again. Two were missing. And then she felt it: A sense of maliciousness and greed that lingered in the air like secondhand smoke from a cigarette. She closed her eyes to concentrate. She felt something else: fear.

"I'll be right back," she murmured as she ran away from the group. As she hurried her way through the maze of children, and out of the backdoor of the warehouse, the sense became stronger...

Out on the side of the warehouse Rión had Sirina on the ground, trying to wrestle away the rations out of her scrawny arms.

"Give it to me, damnit!" He growled.

"No! You've already had your share! You have to wait until tomorrow, just like the rest of us, Rión!" Sirina cried.

"That's the thing, I'm _not _like the rest of you! I never have!" Rión finally managed to rip the bag out of Sirina's grasp, and spat in her face in victory. "I'm higher up on the food chain than the rest of you could ever dream to be! My family practically _owned_ this city. You should be grateful that my family even _let the military_ land here! If anyone deserves this food, it's _me_."

"Rión!" A voice called out behind him and sent and echo across the deserted landscape.

The boy turned around the see Amelia standing in the open backdoor of the warehouse with her arms folded across her chest, back straight, and head erect. She glared at him through her bangs, lips curved into a hard frown.

"And… just _what_ do you think you're doing?" Amelia said making her way to the scene in slow, heavy steps.

Rión shifted in place, looking nervously back and forth between Amelia, the ration, and Sirina. "Sirina… had stolen my food. I was trying to get it back." Rión replied softly, motioning to Sirina.

"You're lying," Amelia stated bluntly. "Give it back."

"But…"

"Give. It. Back. _Now._"

The spiteful child clenched his jaw and glared up at the caretaker, and she right back at him. The tension between them seemed like that between an older sibling and a younger, and it was inevitable who was going to lose. Rión let out a loud and stubborn sigh, and with the flick of his wrist, tossed the ration onto Sirina's chest. "There, you little brat," he grumbled.

Sirina slowly got up, and with wary steps passed Rión and Amelia back to the warehouse.

"Rión," Amelia said sternly. "Back of the warehouse. Move it."

With Amelia's hand tightly gripped to his shoulder, Rión lead the way around to the back of the warehouse, the dirt and rocks crunching under their feet as the trudged along. When they made it into the moon-cast shadow of the building, Amelia gave Rión a swift kick to the rear and made him stumble forward.

"What _the hell_ was that?" Amelia snapped. "Just what were you trying to _do_?"

"She stole my food!" Rión shouted back, patting the boot mark from his pants.

"She did not, Rión! I remember Sig giving you your share."

Rión looked down. As much as he wanted to fight back, he couldn't bring himself to look Amelia in the face. "I was hungry," he growled.

"I'm hungry, too, but you don't see me stealing food from the others!"

Rión just stared off to the side at the ground. He could feel his pride shrivel under Amelia's gaze, and the tears welling up in the corners of his eyes as the result.

Amelia saw this, sighed, and crouched down to his eyelevel.

"Rión," She started, softly laying her hands on his shoulders. "I know that your family was one of the wealthier families of this city; that you were able to get whatever you wanted on a whim. I know that it's hard transitioning from being able to get whatever you want one moment, and then not being able to another. You've lost everything…. your home, your family. But, so have well all as a whole. There's no time to be selfish. No time to be greedy. I go out everyday to make sure you children have what you need. I'm trying my utmost best to keep us alive; but, we're not going to survive if we're low on supplies. We're not going to survive unless we work together, unless you help me."

Rión's face was red, and tears were rolling down his cheeks in small streams. His fists were clenched tightly at his sides and wringing the seam of his pants. Amelia pulled him into a hug and had him rest his head on her shoulder.

"You're a brave young man, Rión," she said as she ran her fingers through his hair to sooth him. "You're strong, and that's just what I need as a right hand man. We'll get through this. I'll get us out of this mess, I promise."

Rión took a step back to look at her. "But isn't that the Doctor's job? Wasn't all that hullabaloo back there _because_ he came to save us?"

Amelia's hearts sank. "He will help us just… not in the way that I'd hoped he would."

"What do you mean? He _is_ going to save us, right?"

Amelia stood up and dusted off her knees. "He is. Somehow he is."

And with that, Amelia slowly started walking back to the warehouse. Rión followed closely behind.

When they got back to the warehouse, the children, Sig, and River were all gathered around the Doctor in the middle of the room, laughing at a story he was telling.

"And, oh, God, you won't believe what happens next!" The Doctor chuckled. "My good old friend Rory actually _punched Hitler in the face_! It was hilarious! And the bravest thing a soul could do!" He stopped when he noticed Amelia and Rión walking in. "Ah, there you are!" he exclaimed. "I was just telling the children about the time when my friends, the Ponds, and I were trying to find their daughter, Melody. And look who little Melody turned out to be!" He elbowed River jokingly, and she hit his shoulder back with a laugh.

"Thank you for entertaining them, Doctor," Amelia smiled. "But it's _way_ past these little ones' bed time."

A loud groan rippled throughout the children. "Please, Amelia, just a few minutes more?"

"Now, now, children, you do what Miss Amelia says; now, off to bed. Off you pop! Shoo shoo!"

The children got up and started scurrying to the back room, chattering away about the Doctor's story. River giggled when one of the children ran back to the Doctor and gave him a kiss on the cheek, making him blush.

"They're sweet, aren't they?" Amelia said walking up to them.

"They are," River sighed. "I'll admit it, Amelia; you and Sig are doing a marvelous job in taking care of them."

Amelia smiled. "We try."

"Miss Amelia?" Sirina peeked her head out of the back room. "Could you and Sig come sing us your lullaby? Pretty please?"

Sig turned to Amelia. Amelia shrugged.

"We'll be there momentarily, Miss Sirina," Sig replied.

"Excuse us," Amelia said as she passed River and the Doctor.

With that, Sig and Amelia disappeared into the shadows of the backroom.

Out of curiosity, the couple followed Amelia and Sig into the back room. It was a fairly large room, half the size of the main room of the warehouse. The children were scattered about the floor in military cots with makeshift pillows and tattered blankets. Amelia and Sig were wondering from child to child and tucking them in.

"Are you comfortable, children?" Sig asked.

"Yes," the children chirped in reply.

"Alright, then."

Amelia sat down next to Sirina's cot and started stroking her hair. She started to hum. It was a low and rich sound; soft like honey and just as sweet. Sig joined in in harmony, his voice a gentle tenor, and smooth as the vibrato of a cello. The orb pinned to his shirt glowed softly in the darkness like a firefly. Then, Amelia started to sing:

_Hush, child, be not afraid_

_Tis time to sleep._

_Sweet dreams are on their way,_

_And they're for you to keep._

_No harm shall come to thee._

_Close your eyes,_

_You're here with me._

_Hush, child, be not afraid_

_Tis time to sleep._

Sig followed in a round in Latin:

_Que puer nolite timere_

_Prototomos tempus dormire._

_Dulcia somnia viam,_

_Et haerent pro vobis custodiam._

_Et veniet tibi quidquam mali._

_Fallat:_

_Ades mecum._

_Que puer nolite timere_

_Prototomos tempus dormire._

The song flowed and echoed about the room like a spell had been cast; making even the musty air of the warehouse seem sweet and worth breathing like perfume.

The Doctor leaned against the doorway and listened. He closed his eyes and let the melody float in his head. But then he started to remember. He started to remember oh so many things: The Oods' prophecy of his death before his last regeneration; the Children of Time and nearly losing them; losing Donna; losing Rose, yet again. It hurt. It hurt too much to remember, and his eyes snapped open with a jolt and a gasp.

"Doctor, what is it?" River asked hooking her arm with his. She could feel how rigid the Doctor's body had become and saw the pain shimmering in his green eyes.

He had to swallow at first to regain his composure; then, he smiled weakly down at his wife. "The Ood song is… is both nostalgic and… horrifying for me to hear," he choked. "Too many memories; too many that hurt."

River laid her head on his shoulder and hugged his arm tighter. "I know, sweetie. I know."

The song faded back into a hum, and the room fell into a hush like a wave brushing the sand, and was replaced by the gentle breathing of the children, fast asleep. Amelia and Sig stood up and quietly and weaved their way around the cots and out of the room.

"It was beautiful," the Doctor sniffed, trying to bounce back to his peppier self with a forced smile.

"Thanks," Amelia blushed, and rocked back onto her heels. "Now let's find you a place to sleep."

"Oh, we could just sleep in the T.A.R.D.I.S?" River suggested.

"Oh, no," Sig insisted. "The _Sythrenene _hunt at night and are more lethal. Please, we'd greatly appreciate it if you'd stay."

"You two could have my room," Amelia chimed in. "Please? I know the children would feel better if you stayed."

River and the Doctor looked at each other and sighed in defeat. "Oh, alright, if we _must_."

With that Amelia lead the Doctor and River back to her room and tried to make it somewhat decent. She pulled out a cot from underneath her bed and arranged a pillow and blanket on it.

"Sig and I will be taking turns taking watch through out the night, so if you hear clopping about, that's us." Amelia said stopping at the door.

"Alright. Thanks, _Oodles_," the Doctor chuckled holding the wooden planks up for Amelia to pass.

Amelia peeked her head back through and gave him a look, cocking her eyebrow and frowning.

The Doctor's smiled twitched into an embarrassed pout. "Sorry."

The Doctor turned back to the room to find that River had already taken the bed and was getting herself comfortable.

"Oh, no, I insist. Please, take the bed, River. I don't want it or anything," the Doctor mumbled, taking off his jacket and setting it on the office chair. He turned off the lamp in the corner, and begrudgingly lay on the cot.

"Would you _really_ let your _wife_ sleep on a dusty old cot?" River said, rolling on her side and laying her head on her arm. She batted her eyelashes for emphasis and puckered her lips.

"_No_." The Doctor lay on his back and stared at the ceiling.

The room was dark accept for the soft glow of the computer screens. They made a soft whirring sound as they warmed up and eventually the screen went black with a _click_ as it went into hibernation mode.

"River?" The Doctor said softly. "Are you asleep?"

"Mm, almost," she said between a yawn.

"I have a feeling…."

"Mmhm?"

"A notion, really…."

"Mmhm?"

"I feel like the T.A.R.D.I.S. brought us here for a reason. It's a feeling deep down in the pit of my stomach, and just nagging on my hearts. I know Amelia. I _know _her. But, at the same time, I don't. It feels…. it _feels_ like we've just met. Like déjà vu, or meeting someone, forgetting them, and then… River?"

The Doctor could hear River taking long and deep breaths, and knew she was out like a light. He sighed and rested his arms behind his head.

Curiosity and frustration still crept in the forefronts of his mind. He didn't know what he had gotten himself into, like usual. There was something new to discover, as usual. There were people that needed him, very much like usual. But not knowing someone that knows him, that was something that had happened only once or twice in his lifetime, and he still he wasn't quite used to it, especially this case. Who was Amelia? Why was she waiting for him? She was so hurt that he didn't know her, and the look on her face was burnt into his memory. It hurt his hearts to think about it. There was a part of him that wanted to go out and find her, and hug her, but, why? _Why? _ Many more questions meandered and multiplied themselves in his thoughts, and he eventually grew tired of thinking of more questions to ask him-self and answer. He closed his eyes and hoped his dreams would give him better thoughts and settle his soul.


	4. Chapter 3

The Girl and the Ood

Ch.3

~Following the Leader~

The Doctor was snoring softly, his lanky limbs hanging half way off of the cot and the blanket lying askew on his chest. He suddenly felt as though the blanket slipped from him, frowned, rolled over, and pulled the blanket closer to his chin. It slipped slowly from his grasp again, and he could hear soft giggling and whispers by his feet. A boy and a girl from what he could make out. He grinned, and pulled the blanket up over his head. He could hear the voices whispering softly,

"On the count of three… one, two…."

"Three!" The Doctor bounced up, covering the children with the blanket and started tickling them.

River woke up when she heard the squealing and laughing. "For the love of… what's going on?"

The Doctor chuckled and pointed to River. "Go get the grumpy lady with the fuzzy hair!"

With an Indian-like battle cry, the children clambered to the bed, and tackled River with tickles and hugs.

Amelia popped her head through the door and noticed the spectacle.

"Oi, kids, I told you to _gently_ wake them up, not give them a heart attack!"

The children gave River a kiss on both cheeks as they scrambled off the bed, and the same for the Doctor before slipping past the wooden planks.

Amelia walked across the room and pulled out a roll of blue prints from a side drawer on her desk. She turned to her two guests and smiled, waving the papers in the air. "Whelp, now that you're awake, let's get down to business, shall we?"

As Sig prepared breakfast, Amelia set up a small table in the middle of her room with four small crates for chairs, and straightened out the blue prints on the table. She set small books on each of the corners to keep them from rolling back onto each other.

"This is a blue print of our fair city," Amelia said, sliding her pointer fingernail about the contour lines. She tapped her finger on a spot that had been circled in red marker. "And this… is Ground Zero; the crash site."

"And you're hoping to find out what caused the explosion," River finished.

"Exactly," Amelia replied with a grin. "And if we can get close enough…"

"You hope to find out what killed off the survivors." The Doctor chimed in.

Amelia sat up and put her hands on her hips. "You two don't miss a beat, do ya? Both of these facts are _correcto mundo_; however, there's a problem…. _the Sythrenene_. For some odd reason they're drawn to the crash site. I'm guessing it's the radiation or they just like feeding off the corpses near the site."

"And… what exactly do you need _us_ for?" The Doctor watched as Sig came in with a tray of the military meals, three cups, and a metal teapot and set them on the table.

Amelia picked up her favorite blue mug and swirled her coffee around before she took a sip. "Well, you two seem very tactical, especially you," she motioned her mug to River. "And you, you're a doctor, yeah? _Surely_, there's something you can pinpoint at the crash site: a germ? Extraterrestrial follicles? Somethin'?"

"Well… sort of. I'm not _that_ kind of doctor, though I'm a doctor of…."

"'Of'?" Amelia smiled as she took a sip. She always loved it when he tried explaining his line of work to those who were curious, but couldn't quite explain it like he didn't know it himself.

"Sorts," he concluded, his eyes shifting about the room like the truth was written somewhere in the cracks.

" 'Sorts'. I can see that; a 'doctor of sorts'. By the way, drink up before it gets cold." She motioned with her cup again.

The Doctor and River picked up a cup and peered in at the drink. It was a dark, brown liquid, and they couldn't see the bottom of the cup, which made them wary. They looked at each other for encouragement, and then took a hesitant sip. Amelia chuckled when their eyes widened in surprise and then closed with sheer bliss.

"_Tea!_" The Doctor beamed. He took in a deep whiff of the fragrance, and then took another sip.

River's cheeks blushed with the sweetness. "Real, proper _tea!_ Oh, I haven't had this in eons! Where on earth did you get this?"

"It was a little score I stumbled upon when I was scavenging around a convenience store. I've been trying to save it for when…" She stopped and looked down at her drink.

" 'For when', what?" The Doctor asked setting the mug on his knee.

"For… for when I have guests," Amelia finished with a smile.

Sig looked down at Amelia from the corner of his eye, and then back at the Doctor. He couldn't imagine how much it hurt her, to have someone you love with all your being not know who you were.

"Anywho," Amelia continued. "If we're going to figure this out, we need to work together on this. The _Sythrenene_ are tricky little boogers, so we have to be just has meticulous and cunning. Our best bet is to make a beeline to the center; go in, get info, 'n' get out. I think your sonic screw-driver will come in handy with this, Doctor."

The Doctor and River exchanged glances, eyes wide and confused.

"How did you know I had a sonic screw driver?" The Doctor slipped his hand into the pocket on the inside of his jacket and clenched the handle of the screwdriver.

"And how did you even know it was _called_ a sonic screwdriver?" River continued, leaning over the table to glare into Amelia's eyes.

Amelia grinned coyly. "Spoilers."

River's mouth opened slightly in surprise. That was _her _catchphrase, _her_ inside joke with the Doctor. River squinted and leaned in ever so slightly more, as though she were reading fine print on Amelia's face. Amelia stared intently back. There was something familiar about her, something in the mischievousness in the curve of the girl's smile. No, it couldn't be…

"Who the hell _are you_?" River hissed. She was almost nose-to-nose with Amelia, but the girl's gaze didn't falter.

"You tell me," Amelia replied.

The Doctor looked back and forth between the two women. The mystery on Amelia's identity was getting more complex every moment. He could see that River was getting flustered, and maybe even slightly scared at the fact that Amelia knew so much. If she knew about his sonic screwdriver and River's catch phrase, what else did she know?

Amelia straightened up and started rolling up the blue prints. "Alright, then. Let's suit up, and head on out, shall we?"

"Now, hold on just one bloody moment!" River slapped her hand down on the rolls. "_Who the hell are you_? I want _answers_!"

"You want answers, I have riddles for you to answer, first," Amelia snapped back, yanking the maps from under River's palms. "If you want to know who I am, you have to pay close attention. _Very _close attention. I can't say it up front and I can't give you straight up answers. I want to tell you, believe me; I want to so bad it hurts, but I can't. The best I can do is give you clues, and hope things mend together I like I hope they do."

River saw the desperateness in Amelia's eyes. They screamed the truth, and she knew she couldn't say otherwise. River let out a sigh and backed away, keeping her eyes on the strange girl. Amelia walked to the corner, pulled out three pairs of goggles and gas masks and tossed them to the couple.

"Suit up," she said briskly. "We'll leave in ten."

With that, Amelia left the room with Sig close behind, leaving the Doctor and River in contemplative and astonished silence.

Sig followed Amelia across the warehouse floor to the entrance of the building. As soon as he was sure the Doctor and River couldn't hear, he grabbed Amelia by the shoulders and pinned her to the wall.

"What the hell was that?" He shouted. "Weren't you the one who said that we had to keep your identity a secret? I don't know, because a _parado_x might happen?"

Amelia let out a soft chuckle. "I found it, Sig. I found a loophole past the paradox! _I_ can't give them the answers because I'd be messing with _their_ time lines; but, _they _can guess, and it won't meddle with either of ours! It's pushing the envelope ever so slightly, but I'm about ninety-nine point nine percent sure that this will work!"

Sig sighed and looked down, his eyes browsed the ground next to them as he thought. "But what of that _one percent_, Miss Amelia? That one measly decimal could change everything! You're putting all of your faith, all that you've waited for in that _one percent_?"

"_What else can I do_?" Amelia cried, jerking herself away from Sig's grasp. "I've put six years of my faith in waiting for my father. _Six stickin' years_!" She turned away for fear that Sig would see the tears stinging the rim of her eyes. "If there's a chance to get off this planet, to give the children another shot at their future, to be with my father again…. I'll put every ounce of whatever I have left in that one percent, Sig. I have to."

Sig stared at his friend for a moment. Her eyes were stern, determined, and downright stubborn.

He sighed when he came to terms that Amelia wouldn't back down. "I think you get the stubbornness from your mother."

"Damn straight," Amelia grinned. She looked down, suddenly feeling insecure about her actions. Maybe she _was_ forcing things a bit too far. But it was too late to turn back now. "Sig," She stepped forward and took the Ood's hands in hers. "I _need_ you to have faith in me with this, too.; I might need help defending that last percent."

" 'I'll put every ounce of whatever I have left in that one percent'," he quoted. "And in you, Miss Amelia."

Amelia gave him a crooked grin, and turned back to the entrance of the warehouse. "So, let's see what kind of trouble we can get ourselves into today."

"Alrighty, troops, listen up!"

Amelia stood with the Doctor, River, and Sig in front of the warehouse door with the children at attention in front of them.

"Kids, we're doing some very important work today. _Very_ important work," She said as she paced back and forth. "The Doctor, Mrs. River and I…. are going to the crash site…"

The children left out a soft gasp. Some stiffened in their positions, others looked down and bit their lips at the thought. They really didn't know what it was. All they knew is that the crash site was "the bad place"; the reason they were homeless, the reason their mummies and daddies were gone.

"We're going to try to figure out what caused this whole mess, so we may or may not be out later than usual." Amelia continued. "Sig is going to stay here with you children, so behave your selves, yes? And by the way… it's Knick-Knacks Day!"

The children looked up and cheered, "_Knick Knacks Day!_"

"What's Knick Knacks Day?" The Doctor chuckled as he watched the kids gallivant around room in excitement.

"It's a day where we let them roam around the area for little treasures, and, if you may, knick-knacks," Sig explained. "With supervision, of course."

"Well, of course!"

Amelia slipped on her military backpack and turned to her parents with a big smile on her face. There was something about keeping her identity a secret from her own parents that was thrilling and deviously fun.

"Alright-y, then," she said with a sigh, and doing a little jump to situate the backpack straps on her shoulders properly. "Let's head out. _Allons-y!_"

The Doctor and River looked at each other in surprise. Yet another catch phrase that was rarely known to others but _she _knew. With a sigh, they followed the girl down the rocky hill.

A mile or so from the warehouse the wind whistled its way through the rickety buildings and the bones of the poor souls left behind. There was a particular corpse with its lower half crushed beneath the rubble, and its torso lying limp on the ground. The head twitched when the sound of footsteps could be heard in the distance, and from the right eye socket of the grinning ghost peered a snake-like wire; a circular lens rimmed it's head, and it squinted to better see the trespassers coming its way. It ducked back into its grim hiding place to avoid being stepped on by three pairs of boots, and emerged once again when the coast was clear. It gave a soft chirp as data was recorded to its mainframe, and was sent to the motherboard.

Far above the muddy atmosphere a spaceship sat in silence. The clouds were so brown, so thick that its presence hadn't been known to anyone for the better part of two years. It was a rather large ship, rugged and shimmering even under the barely luminescent sun peeping through the clouds. Within its metal walls, soldiers in black military uniform rushed about the bridge signing papers and clicking away at computers and monitors.

"Did the probe pick up anything?" One soldier asked the other. It was obvious by the way the buttons of honor glimmered and the badges that lined his chest in lavish décor that he was one of the higher-ranking other officer was young, just barely over twenty-two.

"It did," the other said in obedient reply."The girl and the two new comers have gone out for the day."

"New comers?"

"Yeah, there's a woman and a man with her now."

"When in the hell did _they_ arrive?"

The young soldier suddenly became nervous and timid under the officer's stern tone. "U-um, yesterday, sir. In the late afternoon, sir."

"_Idiot!_ Has _he_ been told, yet?"

"N-no, no sir, he hasn't. Not to my knowledge."

The high-ranking officer let out an exasperated breath. "_Idiots!_ The lot of you!"

The man rushed out of the room through two automatic doors and down a large, silver hallway. The doors and panels were all identical, and the officer often thought to himself that it was surprising that no one went mad with the redundancy. The metal floor made a soft clanking noise under the swift movements of his boots. He was getting nervous. What was he going to say? Was he going to be punished because of his crew's slip-up? Anything he said would most likely set him off; he was dealing with _him_, after all.

The officer finally reached a large metal door, bigger and shinier than the others. It had strange circular writing written across the top of the metal frame; beautiful, but strange all the same, the officer thought. He took in a couple of deep breaths to gain the courage before pressing the intercom button on the right side of the door.

"Yes, what do you want," a voice said briskly. It was a deep and cold sounding voice, which made the officer even more nervous to enter, let alone speak.

"Y-Yes, well, sir, there's been some new developments that I'm sure you'd want to be aware of."

"Very well, come in."

The door opened with a squeaky click and slid itself to the side for the officer to enter.

The room was large and lavishly decorated. There was a bed fit for a king on the far right wall with tall ivory posts with red sheets and a canopy. Pictures of men in strange, red robes with high collars and silver helmets lined the walls. An extravagant carpet with a mural in the middle and silver tassels lay on the floor. The mural had peculiar looking trees with silver leaves on a field of what looked to be red grass. On a hill in the distant background sat a large dome-like structure with a glistening metropolis inside. Farther across the room, a man sat at a desk working hard on something with his back to the officer. On the corner of the desk in a small vase was a red flower that looked much like a lily in full bloom with the tips of its petal slightly turned upward.

The officer stood awkwardly in the middle of the rug and waited a moment for the man to acknowledge his existence. When the man continued his business, the officer cleared his throat lightly and took a hesitant step forward,

"Sir? I've some urgent n-"

Before the poor officer could finish, the man at the desk swung himself swiftly around in his chair, and held a pair of scissors at the officer's throat, just above the collar and at his Adam's apple. The man held the scissors as if he were in a sword fight.

"Urgent news?" The man continued, his green eyes glistening with mischief like a cat. "You mean about the two new comers that arrived late yesterday afternoon?"

"Y-yes, sir," the officer stuttered. "But, if you don't mind me asking, sir: how did you…?"

"How did I know they came? I checked the monitors myself. Incidents such as this, when I am not informed of such crucial information, occur every so often. And by _that_ I mean at least once a day. This incident makes two for today, actually. If _I_ have to do your jobs for you, _what _have I hired you for? _Idiots_! The lot of you!"

The officer sighed with relief as the man took the scissors from his throat and spun back around to work on his project once more.

The officer sat once more in awkward silence and waited for his superior to give him orders. When another moment went by, the officer sniffed and said, "Well, sir, if you don't need me for anything else, I'll just head back to the de-"

"Wait!"

Just as he was about to turn for the door, the man grabbed the officer by the sleeve and pulled him to the desk.

"What do you think of the family photos, hm?" The man said, wrapping his arm around the startled officer's shoulders.

The officer looked down at the desk to see pictures and scraps of paper with scenery decorating the pages of a large photo album. Some of the pictures were of the man himself, the others were of a girl with short pixie-like brown hair and a stern look on her face. The man had cut and pasted their heads on the bodies of people in magazines to make it look like they were in the pictures together and doing the activities in the articles.

"Sir, isn't that-?" The officer started.

"Yes, yes it is," the man finished with a smile. "She's lovely isn't she? Oh! Look at this one!" The man pointed to a picture of himself in a tuxedo and the girl in a wedding dress. "I think we're _made_ for each other, don't you?"

"Yes, sir. Quite so, sir," the man said with a smile.

"Oh, this 'sir' thing is getting redundant!" the man said with a sigh. "Call me by my name. Go, on, now; say it!"

The man gulped nervously. "M-Master."

The Master chuckled gleefully, "Good lad, good lad! You may leave, now."

The officer nodded. "Yes, s-… I mean…. Yes, Master."

The officer let out a quite sigh of relief as he crossed the room back to the door. Just as he was about to cross the threshold, the Master called for him once more:

"Prey tell, that boy with the shaved head… you've been keeping an eye on him, yes?" he asked quietly.

"Yes, Master."

"Does he seem still pretty sore from the spat he had with the girl?"

"Very much so. He's very hard headed."

"And the children are going on their little treasure hunt today, correct? And the Ood is left in charge today?"

"Yes, Master."

The Master laughed and leapt from his chair. "Ah! Then it's high time I go a head and work my magic, then! Captain, my coat, hat and scarf, if you please?"

The Master ran across the room to the baffled officer and slipped his arms into the sleeves of the jacket just as the officer took it off the hanger.

"The boy is just about on the brink of rebellion against the girl," the Master continued with a smile as he wrapped the scarf around his neck and tucked it into his jacket collar. "With just the right persuasion, he'll be on our side in no time."

"You're going by yourself, sir? Do you need some assistance?" The officer asked handing the Master his cane and hat, and following him out of the room.

"Nah, this is a one man job," the Master replied as he came to a circular platform. "Besides, _you _have to take over _my _job of doing _your_ job! Toodle-loo!"

With a tip of his hat, the Master tapped the platform twice and disappeared in a flash of green light.


End file.
